General ledger.



No! 721,969. PATENTED MAR. 3, 1903.

; G. A. SGHOFIELD.

' GENERAL LEDGER.

a APPLIIOAT'IOH FILED D110. 22', 1899.

I0 uonBL. mums-sum 1 PATENTED MAR. 3, 1903.

SCHOFIELD. GENERAL LEDGER. AIPVPLIOATION FILED DBO. 22, 1899.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I0 HODEL.

n Q Q UNITED NTSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLESA. SOHOFI'ELD, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

GENERAL LEDGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 721,969, dated March 3, 1903.

Application filed December 22,1899. Serial No. M1313. (No model.)

invented a new and useful General Ledger,

of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a new article of manufacture whereby to enable an accountant to keep his accounts in a simpler form with less labor and with superior facilities for detecting error, also to enable him to more readily prove his accounts at any time and also to show at a glance the balance for each individual account, also showing daily the total debits and credits for each individual account.

Another object is to avoid any liability of opening two accounts with the same individual.

By means of my newly-invented general ledger the bookkeeper is enabled to gain the following advantages in the ordinary conduct of his work: There are no long columns of figures to add. No indexing or red-ink ruling is required. No dates are required to be written. rate and distinct. Total debit and total credit show daily. The total credits are always directly under the total debits, so that the balance can be told at a glance. One hundred pages are ample room for one thousand accounts. By this device accurate bookkeeping is easily comprehended, saves labor, and reduces chances for error to a minimum. The trial balance is provided for in the ledger, together with a summary of the months work, showing the assets, the liabilities, and the classification of accounts. The ledger is arranged for regularly balancing the account each month, being preferably in the form of a monthly'ledger.

An object of my invention is to provide a book so ruled and arranged as to keep the debits and credits each distinct and separate and still have the total debit and total credit appear directly under each other, so that the difference can be determined at a glance.

By means of my newly-invented ledger the debits and credits face each other in horizontal spaces, and the accountant in carrying on Each daysbusiness stands sepa his work can move said debits and credits to the right into aspace there provided for, the charges and credits for that day added, and the totals carried still farther to the right, and so on to the end of the month, when the difference between the debit and credit readilyappears and can be placed in the trialbalance column.

Another object is to provide a book in which a personal account can also be placed in the column of accounts classified and again in the column of assets and liabilities, thus obviating the necessity of transcribing the names for those three statements.

My invention may be variously applied. The accompanying'drawings illustrate two forms in which my invention is carried out. Figure l is a fragmental View showing my invention as applied in a general ledger suitable for any business. The intermediate short leaf of the ledger-sheet is bent to expose the account-columns for the first two days of the month. Fig. 2 is a like view of a combined time-book, ledger, and pay-roll.

My invention consists in a ledger comprising a sheet, as at A or A, having main horizontalrulings r, providing horizontal individual and representative account spaces 1, horizontalsubrulings 2 in said account-spaces l, permanent heading indications 3 4 5 6 viz. Daily charges, Daily credits, Total debit, and Total credit, respectively-for the horizontal spaces formed by said subrulings, vertical rulings 7, crossing said horizontal rulings and forming columns 8 of dailyaccouut spaces, and permanent headings 9 at the heads of said columns for the days of the month, respectively. By this arrangement I am able to bring daily the total credits directly under the total debits, so that the balance can be determined at a glance. For this reason the daily charges are placed at the top of each space 1, the daily credits at the bottom of such space, and the totals between the daily charges and daily credits, the total debits being above the total credits. This specially convenient arrangement can bereversed, however, without departing from the spirit of my invention,the credits being placed above the debits. This variationis not shown in the drawings.

Each of the vertical columns 8 of daily-account spaces is preferably provided with a column 10 for the reference-number. It is also preferably provided with a permanent heading 11 for the reference-number. The sheet is also provided with a column 12 for balance from last month and also with a permanent heading 13 therefor. Each sheet is ruled for thirty-one daily columns for each monthly account, and at the right of the month-account the sheet is provided with vertical ruling 14 to form a column 15 of spaces for proof.

16 indicates a permanent heading for the proof-column.

17 indicates vertical rulings for a column 18 of trial-balance spaces.

19 indicates a permanent heading for the trial-balance column.

20 indicates vertical rulings at the right of the trial-balance column to form a vertical column 21 of accounts classified.

22 indicates a permanent heading for the accounts-classified column. Subvertical rulings 23 in said accounts-classified column divide the same into subcolumns for good, doubtful, and bad accounts.

In the drawings I have shown the words Good, Doubtful, and Bad as permament headings for the subcolumns in accounts classified; but it is deemed preferable to omit such headings in the actual ledger. Said headings will be omitted, but will be understood to apply to the columns in the order shown.

In practice the accountant will each day enter in the appropriate space the daily charges and daily credits as they occur and at the close of the day will enter the total debit and total credit in their appropriate spaces for that day and will each day bring forward the total debit and total credit from the daily column immediately preceding. The total-debit and total-credit spaces for each individual account are arranged together, as shown. The daily charges are above, and the daily credits are below, the total debit and total credit; thus bringing the total debit and the total credit together and also bringing the daily charges next to the total debit and the daily credits next to the total credit.

The entries may be made from the journal, day-book, blotter, or sales-tickets, as the case may be, and a number will be applied in the reference-number column for appropriate reference to the page of the journal, daybook, or blotter or the number of the salesticket from which the entry has been taken.

The ledger can be proved at any time by footing the total debits and total credits, and if they correspond to the total footings of the books or tickets from which the entries are taken the work of proving is completed at once. If a discrepancy appears, the accountant may pencil the debits in the daily-account column following and then add the same together and compare the footing with the footing of the debit-column of the journal, thus to determine in which side of the account the error occurs. If the footings of the total debits in the journal and ledger agree, the error will be found in the credit ontries, and vice versa.

In practice each sheet of the ledger will be provided with columns having permanent headings 0 for each of the thirty-one days of the longest months, and in business in which no business is conducted on Sunday the Sunday-column may be used for a proof-col umn each week into which the debits maybe penciled for the purpose of proving the account.

The horizontal spaces 1 will be devoted to the individual and representative accounts of the entire business. There will preferably be twelve of these account-spaces for each page of the sheets which go to make up the ledger, so that, if desired, one page can be made to serve for the twelve months of the years business with one account, either individual or representative.

At the right of the thirty-first daily column I provide the proof-column 15 and the trialbalance column 18. At the end of each month the balance will be entered in the ap,

priate subcolumns of the trial-balance column, and if the total footings of the debit and credit sides of the trial-balance column do not agree then the accountant will enter in the proof-column the total debits, as shown in the column of the thirty-first day, and if the footing of the same agrees with the totaldebit footing of the journal or book from which the entries are taken the error will thus be shown to be in the credit entries, and vice V8183.

The accountant will enter in the appropriate column of the accounts-classified division the debit-balances, thus presenting immediately to the view of the manager the accountants opinion of the values of outstanding accounts.

At the right of the accounts-classified division 22 I provide a division 24 for a general summary of the business, including as most prominent features the assets and liabilities, as indicated by the permanent headings 25 and 26.

The leaves are provided with index-tabs, and the accounts will be kept on the pages set aside to the appropriate letter shown on the tab, so that whenever the accountant wishes to make an entry he will immediately turn to the page on which the account should appear, and all danger is thus avoided of opening two accounts for the same individual, which sometimes occurs when a separate index is depended upon.

In the drawings, a indicates the member of the ledger-sheet on which the name of the month and the names of the accounts will be entered in the column 28 at the extreme left. 0 indicates the opposite page of said sheet, while 1) indicates an intermediate leaf,- which is applied in the customary manner for giving greater extent to the sheet without the necessity of too great width of book. d indicates the mid-line of the book.

By placing the assets and liabilities columns at the extreme right of the ledger-sheet I avoid the necessity of rendering a separate sheet to show the assets and liabilities to the manager. The entire accounts can thus be brought to the instant and direct attention of the manager in a compact and permanent form.

In practice the book will be made up of sheets printed for binding in the ordinary way. Each book will comprise the number of sheets requisite for the number of accounts involved for the time the book is desired to be used.

By devoting one sheet of twelve horizontal account-spaces to each account the book can be made to carry a yearsbusiness; but where a large number of accounts is carried it will be found more desirable to devote a book to each month and to use only one account-space for each account.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A ledger with indexed sheets having main horizontal and vertical rulings forming rows and columns of spaces, .the rows of spaces being for individual and representative accounts and the columns being for classifying said accounts; the spaces of the rows, except the end space of each row, be-

ing subdivided into smaller spaces and having permanent indications for the total debits and total credits and for the items comprising said debits and credits, the debits and credits being arranged adjacent to each other and between the respective items; and the columns being provided with permanent indications for classifying the different accounts, whereby each account can be itemized and summarized at appropriate places in its respective row.

2. A ledger with indexed sheets having main horizontal and vertical rulings forming rows and columns of spaces, the rows of spaces being for individual and representative accounts and the columns being for classifying said accounts, the spaces of the rows, except the end space of each row,'being subdivided into smaller spaces and having permanent indications for total debits and total credits and for the items comprising said debits and credits, the debits and credits being arranged adjacent to each other and between the respective items, and the columns being provided with permanent indications for time; reference; atrial balance; and a summary, whereby the record of each account from the start to the summary can be written in consecutive spaces across the page of the ledger.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, at Los Angeles, California, this 14th day of'December, 1899.

o. A. SCHOFIELD.

Witnesses:

JAMES R. TOWNSEND, FRANCIS M. TOWNSEND. 

